Behind the Counter: Fresh Fresh Seafood

According to some publications, one of Baltimore's best crab cakes is not to be found in one of downtown's touristy mainstays, but in an unassuming York Road seafood restaurant.

opened on Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore in 1984  and then moved to Towson in 2000. Owned by Loch Raven residents Darlene and Ricky Parker, the restaurant is a family business, through and through. Ricky handles the recipes. Darlene handles the customers and does the books. And most of the time, they're the only staff there.

Ricky Parker took some time away from the grill for some questions.

What does it take to be a successful restaurant in Towson?

Nobody does it with ease, not even the big boys, not even the giants. They put millions and millions of dollars up front to look like they're making money. They give away products to keep people coming in. We never have to give away anything to maintain business. I just do it on the merit of selling a good quality product and the chips have always fallen in the right place. ... I'm steadfast on believing in what I do.

How did you and Darlene get into the seafood business?

To me, there's always been a shortage of good, quality seafood places around. Even carry-outs in the old days. You go to a seafood carry-out and everything is in the deli case with a thick batter on it, seasoned and waiting for somebody to come and buy it. I always felt that that was the wrong approach.

If you're trying to sell a good product that you want people to come back, to remember the taste of it, then you give them something that tastes like what it's supposed to taste like.

Then you go to some of these places that dress it up like that, basically what you're doing is getting seafood where the breakdown process of the protein in the seafood has already started breaking down and you can taste it. You can taste the ammoniated taste, and there's no way you can hide it. Either you get a fresh taste or a bad taste. And it amazes me the way customers and some of my competitors still support places like that, that just don't worry about taking care of seafood the proper way.

What led you guys up to York Road?

I had many middle-class, working-class customers that came from all around the Beltway. [People who] worked in the city, schoolteachers, social service employees, all types of professionals. Lawyers, doctors. And they would come and enjoy my food sitting in their car on Greenmount Avenue. Over and over again the word was have I ever thought about moving to an area that was more conducive to bring our families. I got an offer for my first location and I thought, well, hey, why not? And I heard through the grapevine that this was a nice area to move to...I knew what success felt like, I had no fear about whether I would fail or not. Failing was not an option. It was just a word that naysayers have. Failure. Fail at what? People don't usually fail at things that they love doing.

Short of giving away a secret recipe, what are the keys to a really good crab cake?

You start with good quality crabmeat and you don't change much about that. You follow the basics and keep it that way. You don't pack it full of bread. You don't stretch it. Crabmeat is already expensive. Seafood is the highest food staple on the human food chain. So when people come for seafood, they have to dig a little deeper if they want something that's going to sustain their quality of life, make their quality of life better... Quality products usually cost you a little bit more and they're a little bit better for you.